UA:Elemental Racial Variants

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Elemental Racial Variants

The core d20 System cosmology has six inner planes, four of which correspond to the classic elements: air, earth, fire and water. You can link races to various elements without making them extraplanar creatures. In fact, you can create an entire philosophical system based on various combinations of element types and and their relative strengths.

The races described in this section are the elemental races tied to each element. While members of these races are not actually elementals, and are, like most creatures, composed of all four elements, each has a special affinity for one of the four. This element has the most powerful influence on members of that race and strongly shapes not only the race’s physiology, but also its member’s outlook and personality. Gnomes, for example, are most strongly associated with air, and dwarves are most strongly affiliated with earth.

Despite their affinity for a particular element, these creatures’ types and subtypes do not change.

Each racial variant modifies the race to which it is applied (the standard race) in minor ways. All racial traits of the standard race (including racial skill bonuses, bonus feats, special sensory abilities (such as darkvision and low-light vision), ability modifiers, combat bonuses against specific foes, and racial weapon proficiencies) are retained unless the variant specifies otherwise. For instance, a dwarf retains his weapon familiarity, and an elf retains her ability to spot secret doors.

Most of these variant races provide alternate ability adjustments. The ability score adjustments given here supersede the standard race’s adjustment. For example, the water halfling’s ability score adjustments are −2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, and +2 Constitution. This is instead of the normal −2 Strength and +2 Dexterity, not in addition to it.

As with the environmental racial variants, the balanced and adaptable nature of humans precludes them from having a strong elemental proclivity. The personality of an individual human reflects, perhaps, the strength of various elements within that individual, but humans gain no particular virtues or vulnerabilities related to their elemental components.